Elites of the Senate

The United States Senate, which was initially formed to represent the interests of the States, was undermined by the 17th Amendment.  Rather than being selected by the state assembly and/or the governor, the senators would be popularly elected.  This effectively ended the ability of state governments to directly influence the federal government.  Whereas the state legislature could have recalled a senator who voted in favor of a law that would impose costs on the state government (e.g. Medicaid, Americans with Disabilities Act, No Child Left Behind, etc.), the 17th Amendment removed that check from the state.  Unfunded mandates have proliferated, allowing the federal government to determine how the states must spend their tax revenues.

 

The reasoning behind the amendment was that too many millionaires were 'buying' senate seats.  There was also an issue with legislatures selecting senators in a timely fashion since it wasn't an election with a given day for all legislators to vote.  Popular vote certainly resolved the second of those issues but senators are still among the wealthy elite.

 

Members of the 115th Senate are, on average, 61.9 years old and have been in the Senate for 10 years.  26 Senators graduated from Ivy League colleges (20 of them attended Harvard, Yale, or both) and 55 Senators have a Juris Doctor degree.  By contrast, only 4 senators earned an MD and 6 have an MBA.  Two have achieved PhDs.  Impressive credentials when one considers the mediocre to bad quality of their work.

 

Splitting by party is illuminating.  There are 46 Democrats, 17 of whom are Ivy League graduates (37%) and 32 of whom have a JD (70%).  By contrast, of the 52 Republicans, only 8 are Ivy League grads (15%) and 22 have a JD (42%).  All 4 MDs are Republicans.  The MBAs are split 4 Republicans to 2 Democrats.  Each party has a PhD senator.  50% of the Democrats have worked as lawyers while only 35% of the Republicans have.

 

Considering the low regard in which lawyers are held, it is no surprise that an institution that is dominated by lawyers and Ivy League elites would find itself with similar approval ratings.